Ebony Evans: Adventure of a Lifetime Chap. 20
Ebony A'''nnabeth had placed herself at the head of the table, with Piper on her right and Nico on her left. Annabeth and Nico were whispering about something when I walked in, but then stopped. I was used to that, I wasn't the most popular kid at my school. Next to Piper was Jason, and Leo then planted himself next to him. I casually made my way to the only open seat, the one next to Nico. Annabeth and Piper both had a cup of hot chocolate in front of them. "So," Leo said as he leaned his chair back, "what is this meeting about?" "The quest," Annabeth said. She looked fine, the color had returned to her cheeks, but I had a feeling she wasn't okay, emotionally that is. "And what about the quest?" "We need to figure out some stuff," Nico said. "Okay," Jason said, "what stuff?" "The prophecy is the first thing," Annabeth said, taking a sip of coco. "I thought we already figured that out," Piper said. "Yeah," Leo chimed in. "I know it looks like it, but we might want to think about it more," Nico said. "Fine," Piper said. "Let's analyze it. '''Six shall travel to the place that has been hidden.' ''We all agreed that it sound like Camp Jupiter?" she looked at Jason. "That's the name, from what I remember." "Unless they changed it while you were missing," Leo said, and then elbowed him. "Yeah," Jason's face got depressed. Pollux had told about him while I was packing, how he was from a Roman camp, which means he doesn't belong at CHB, he had forgotten everything about his life, and that's what we think happened to Percy. He told me a bunch of other things, but that's unimportant. "Next line," Leo said, "''Until they find the one who has not been given. That's Percy, right?" "We think so," Nico said. By the sound of his voice, I didn't think he was convinced. "Third line, 'A horrible beast will attack those in its way,'" Annabeth said, "We're going to fight a beast." "Can we avoid that at all costs?" Leo asked. "Even if we try, Leo, we're still going to have to do it in the end. Prophecy always come true," Annabeth's face got a sad disposition for a second, and Jason looked at her with empathy. What have they shared? '' "'Till the Vine and Death fight against to save the day,'" Nico said. "That's the last line." "Yes," Annabeth said, "and that's going to be you and Ebony." "What?" I said standing up, which shook the table and almost spilled Annabeth and Piper's mugs. Annabeth nodded calmly. "No one told me I had to fight in this quest, and not a horrible beast at that!" "You'll be fine, Ebony," Piper said to me. Her voice, and her words sounded... weird for a second. I looked at her funny for a second, "Your words..." "What about my words?" she asked. I slowly sat down, "It's just, they sounded funny to me. Mystical, in a sense. Too good to be true." Now it was Piper's turn to look confused. "That's doesn't matter," Nico said quickly. "We need to focus on this right now." For about two hours we talked about the stupid prophecy, hidden meanings, double meanings, ideas of the beast, fighting tactics for Nico and I, which I can say was the weirdest thing for myself. I couldn't picture fighting with him. What was bad was Jason's suggestion about the last line. "Against. That word is bothering me." "How so, Jason?" Annabeth asked. "It says their fighting against, but it doesn't mean they're going to fight the beast. Which is what we've all guessed is what it meant." "What are you implying?" Nico asked angrily. "Nothing. I'm just saying that it sounds like it means something else." "What do you think it means?" Piper asked. "That they're going to have to fight against each other to save the day. Which might inply one of them dying." "That's crazy, Jason," Leo said as he peeled his second banana since we started on the topic. "Ebony and Nico, fighting? Crazy," he ate some of his banana. "Nothing's crazy when it comes to prophecy, Leo," Annabeth said. And I had a feeling she spoke from experience. After a few more minutes, Annabeth dismissed us. Everyone left but us two. "He's not like that," Annabeth said. ''Is she still talking about the prophecy? I know Nico won't attack me. ''"Nico?" I asked, confused. "No, Percy. He...he doesn't '''ever' talk like that." "I figured that from your shocked face." Annabeth went pale again, "He laughed at me. And it wasn't his funny laugh, when his eyes sort of squint together and his smile ripples his face, it was a laugh I'd only heard when he was making fun of Clarisse, or some sort of enemy. He's never laughed at me like that before..." "I don't think it was him, Annabeth. By how everyone talks about him and how much he likes you, it couldn't have been him." "How do you know?" I felt weird, helping someone older than me with their life. "Well, there was just a blank expression in his eyes-" "In his eyes?" "Yeah, I've always been good with seeing people's emotions through their eyes. Weird, I know, but he didn't look like he cared about you, which I find hard to believe if we're talking about the real Percy Jackson." Annabeth smiled, "Thanks, Ebony." "You're welcome," I started to get out of my seat. "But don't you ever enter my mind again," her tone was completely serious, and her eyes were now freaking me out. Evil and steely. "I won't. Don't worry," I smiled as I left. **** "Ebony?" "Five more minutes, George." "George? It's me, Nico." I shot straight up. Standing in the doorway was Nico, still wearing his regular clothes, including the aviator jacket. "Nico? Why are you creeping into my room?" "I'm not creeping!" his voice went high pitched for a second, which made me smile. "I just wanted to tell you I needed to talk to you. Alone." "Okay, give me a couple seconds and I'll be ready." He nodded and shut my door. The great thing about not wearing any makeup is that you don't have to freak when someone sees you without any on. I slipped on a pair of shoes and grabbed a coat. I didn't want him to see me completely in my PJ's, besides, the Argo was freezing. It felt like the air just entered through every crack. I slowly made my way out and slowly shut my door. Nico was quietly standing in the hallway. "Okay, where are we going?" I asked him, crossing my arms trying to stay warm. "The meeting room." We made our way there and sat down in the chairs, him across from me. "I don't want to fight you," he said. "Nico-" "No. Jason made sense to me, but I don't want it to," he looked at me. For some reason, I focused on his looks. He looked completely different from his cousin, their hair was even different; Percy had more of a jet black, while Nico's were a sort of lighter black. I thought they did have one thing in common, Nico's eyes were just as amazing as Percy's sea green. Nico's brown eyes were like chocolate, I felt like I was melting every time I look into them. Silly, I know, but it's true. "Leo is right, you and me fighting is a crazy thought. You're my best friend, Nico," Nico didn't say anything at first. All of sudden, I felt a gust of wind. It was colder than the rest of room, and it seemed sort of mystical. Like what ever I had heard in Piper's voice. "But what if it does happen, Ebony?" Nico's voice scared me. It sounded weird as well, but not like Piper's. This sounded worse, creepier. At first, I was tongue tied, "I-I don't know." "That's the thing," Nico said as he stood up, like he had planned all of this, "if it does happen, if we do have to fight, then we can't have a relationship." "A relationship?" "A friendship, that is," now he seemed a bit tongue tied, but then he went back to normal. Well, back to the creepy voice, "Acquaintances, that's is how far we're going, Ebony." ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Category:Chapter Page Category:Ebony Evans: Adventure of a Lifetime